Through The Years
by chimericaldreams
Summary: A series of three one-shots featuring the lives of all four girls before magic as children. Cute, fun moments between the sisters.
1. A Wave of Fear

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or any of the characters

**Well hey there! I took a little break from my normal routine when I got inspired by another one-shot to write the lives of the Charmed characters as kids before magic. All still applies as was except I've now added Paige into the mix. I think it's fun and easy and each chapter will be it's own little one-shot until I decide I'm done with it. When you review you can tell me who you want the next little story to be about and I'll take the first one I get. I hope you enjoy these! They're meant to be cute, nothing more.**

_Summary #1: Paige and Prue bond as one sister talks the other out of her foul mood and urges her to face her fears._

At the tender age fourteen years old, Prudence Halliwell sat at the edge of an in-ground pool with her knees pulled up to her chest, watching as sets of young children dog-paddled around and the shallow end and high schoolers doing flips off the high diving board creating high waves that echoed about the pool.

A splash sent droplets of water flying in her direction. Instantly alerted, Prue scooted back to avoid them and found the back of her shorts soaked when she landed in a puddle. The water instantly saturated the cotton fabric and now feeling angered Prue cursed under her breath. "Shit."

"That's a bad word."

Looking up, Prue noticed she was no longer alone. Her eight-year-old sister Paige was hovering over her, seeming quite astonished to hear her big sister use such language.

"Grams says you aren't supposed to say stuff like that of she'll wash your mouth out with soap like in 'A Christmas Story'," Paige stated matter-of-factly, like it had any precedence over Prue's actions.

"Grams says the same thing all the time when you aren't around to hear it," Prue spat back, rolling her eyes. It was bad enough that she had been delegated the role of babysitter for the day while her three little sisters enjoyed a swim at the community pool, she didn't need a speech from the youngest of the three of them about her language.

Prue hoped desperately that Paige would take a hint and leave her to sit in isolation, but her ever unyielding sister sat down a couple feet away from her and hung her feet over the edge. "Why are you in a bad mood?"

"I'm not."

"Is it because Grams made you watch us at the pool and you couldn't see Andy?"

At the reminder, Prue grew angrier. "I'm not in a bad mood."

"Is it because Piper took your favorite bathing suit that you like to tan in?"

Prue tried to keep a lid on her rage. "I'm not in a bad mood."

"Is it becau-"

"I'm not in a bad mood Paige! Now go away and swim somewhere else!" The words came out before Prue had the sense to stop them and hit Paige like a bat did a baseball, with full force. Easily defeated, her perky grin quickly fell to a disappointed frown and Prue immediately felt bad for the harshness she'd treated her sister with. As Paige began to mope in another direction, Prue called after her. "Paigey, wait." Upon hearing her name, Paige turned around somewhat interested. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't mean it."

Grams would be angered if she heard a report of fighting between the girls again so Prue knew she'd need to do major damage control before Paige spilled the beans about their argument. She beckoned Paige back over with one hand, patting an empty space on the concrete for her to sit down. Paige scuttled to the awaiting seat and plopped down next to her sister.

Despite Prue's furious tone a few moments earlier, Paige settled into the curve of her big sister's figure. No matter how frightened Paige got by Prue's sudden instances of anger, her presence was too comforting to ignore. "Can you forgive me?" Prue asked when Paige finally stopped fidgeting.

"Well duh, of course I can," Paige's now giggly voice told her and Prue was grateful for the simplicity of pleasing an eight-year-old. But then Paige shifted and her chocolate brown eyes gazed up at Prue sadly, "so you're not mad at us because you have to spend the day with us instead of your friends?"

It was hard not to smile at Paige's adorable little whimper which melted her heart. "Of course not," she replied honestly, draping one arm around Paige's tiny shoulders. "You may be my sister, but you're my friend too."

"Really?!" Paige brightened up excitedly.

"Sure," Prue assured her baby sister. "You're the best little friend I have."

"What about Phoebe?" Paige queried pointedly, as if she were in competition to be the best.

Prue glanced over at Phoebe, who was already ten years old, her eyes lingering there as her sister sat on the edge of an unfolded beach chair, enchanting a little boy about the same age. It both pleased and scared her to see Phoebe so at ease with boys so young, as if there was an older soul in her small body. "She's not so little anymore. But you, Paigey, can still win Gram's over with that innocent pout-y face and get whatever you want at any time. And you're just fun because you still want to hear my stories and help me with my photography and sit here with me when you could be swimming."

That was all it took for Paige's young mind to be lured back to the tempting waters as she suddenly remembered her reason for begging Grams to take her to the pool in the first place. The humidity immersed in the air was becoming exhausting and with one swift cannonball Paige could take that sticky feeling away.

She went to stand up, fixing her goggles over her eyes and Prue braced herself to be drenched again, but at the last second Paige rotated her head to face Prue. "Aren't you gonna come swimming with us?"

By _us _Prue knew she meant Paige's little kiddie friends. "No thanks."

Paige was persistent. "You're gonna get too hot," she lectured.

"I'll be fine," Prue waved her away, "go ahead, show me how you can make a big splash doing a cannonball." Now she was looking for any incentive to get Paige to go have fun, but she wasn't to be fooled. Paige was very motherly and wouldn't let Prue's rejections drop.

"Don't you know how to swim?" Paige prodded, pulling off her swim gear and sitting cross-legged opposite Prue, now completely absorbed in figuring out what was wrong. As far back as she could remember, Prue had been the one to stay on the beach with Paige before she'd known how to swim. Most of the time she didn't even go anywhere near the pool, it was routine. And Paige didn't question it until now.

Prue sighed, giving in. "Of course I do, I learned when I was six just like you did," she explained. "I just hate the water. I don't like to go anywhere near it." Then, for emphasis she added flatly, "ever."

"Never ever?" Paige inquired with a blank stare, "why not?"

"Because…" Prue began to clarify but quickly stopped herself as to not upset her sister. "I just don't."

"You take showers and baths and drink glasses of water," Paige pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's different," Prue immediately defended herself. "It's not like in a tub that's one foot deep or in 5 inches of drinking water your going to drown." Both sisters gasped after the sentence escaped Prue's lips. She wished she could take back her words but they were already out.

Paige had been only a baby and Prue about seven when their mother had drowned at the lake where Prue and Piper had attended summer camp. The tragedy had influenced a lot of Prue's personality since that time, but the one thing she'd never been able to avoid was the lasting fear of water. Since then she hadn't been able to bring herself to swim in a body of water that could take her life as it had her mother's. She was busy raising her three little sisters, Prue wasn't about to let her mom's downfall be hers as well.

Of all the ideas Paige had concluded for Prue's sour disposition, her mind spin at this one. It made sense. "You don't swim because of mommy?" she asked, waiting for her theory to be confirmed. "That's why you don't like it here?"

Slowly, Prue nodded. She'd never opened up to her baby sister before. "I can't swim, Paigey. I'm afraid."

"But Mommy would want you to!" Paige protested and unfortunately Prue agreed with her sister's thoughts although she wouldn't admit it. Patty would have wanted Prue to move on and enjoy herself, not hide for the sake of fear. "Come on, it's easy."

As if she were an alien, Prue stared at Paige. "Not a chance."

But Paige was a determined soul and wanted to prove that she was right this time. "All you have to do is jump in, Prue!" Once again securing the goggles on her face, Paige used her arms to help Prue visualize jumping in. "Look, I'll show you!" Then, with a running start, she did a cannonball into the pool.

Watching as her sister resurfaced and poked her head through the crest of the water, Prue considered was Paige was saying. It was like riding a bike, you didn't forget the ability to swim once you learned it. Paige climbed out of the water and extended her hand to Prue, offering herself to lead the way.

"Jump in with me! You're wearing your bathing suit! Try it!"

Prue looked at her dripping sister strangely like she was making a deal with the devil. "I don't know Paige…"

"I know," Paige responded simply and Prue was amazed at her remarkable calming effect. "We're friends right?" Prue nodded, having her own words used against her was unfair, especially in the hands of someone so much younger. "So do you trust me?"

And Paige was so sure of herself, so excited that Prue didn't want to disappoint her. So with a deep breath she left her top, shorts, and her fears by their bags and towels and joined her sister at the rim of the pool. Paige smiled a wide smile, showing all her missing teeth with pride. She grabbed Prue's hand instinctively.

Then, hand in hand, they jumped.

_I hope you liked it! Review please and tell me who the next one-shot should be about!!_


	2. Wrapped With Love

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for taking so long to get this back up, the end of summer was incredibly busy. So first of all, I want you to imagine that all of our current stores and such exist during the 1980's even though technically they didn't, but it fit the story and I didn't want to leave it out. I'm hoping to update more now! For this one I took the requests of carys and one of Christine Ruud's suggestions. For the next one I already have an idea planned. It will highlight all four sisters as CharmedNeptune47 requested. **

_Summery #2: Piper and Phoebe spend Christmas morning together and find the true meaning of sisterhood._

Phoebe's sock-covered feet moved cautiously down the wooden steps of the staircase. One, two, three steps and when she accidentally banged her arm on the railing it took every ounce of her being not to howl at the top of her lungs. The clock rung out five loud chimes just as Phoebe leapt over the squeaky floor board on the second to last stair and landed with a thump on the floor. She raised her head towards the grandfather clock admonishingly as if its hourly rings would alert her entire family that she was awake. "Ssh!"

She stood completely still for a minute for utter assurance no one had heard as she climbed out of bed and maneuvered her way down the stairs. Proud of herself when no one came to yell at her, Phoebe padded across the foyer and into the conservatory where she was met by the vibrant lights of the Christmas tree.

There it stood before her as she'd seen it every night since they'd decorated it with the delicate ornaments and colorful bulbs of light a few weeks back, but somehow it was more beautiful.

Christmas, like most five-year-old children, was Phoebe's favorite time of the year. Her holiday season consisted of annual activities like baking cookies, finding the perfect tree and picking out the ideal gifts for her family. She felt that as a sister it was her job to find presents that told her sisters how much she truly adored them. In fact, there were three fully wrapped boxes sitting comfortably under the tree and waiting to be opened that she'd chosen while shopping with Grams while Piper and Prue had been at school.

And to Phoebe's childhood joy, among those three presents were not only the other gifts that her sisters had gotten for both each other and their Grandmother, but a pile of other boxes in all shapes and sizes wrapped in vivid multi-colored paper. Every one had a little tag with one of the girls' names scribbled on it, and equal amount to each.

Yes, Santa had come!

Phoebe's little heart was teeming with anticipation. She wanted to rip the paper off the new items freshly placed under the tree but there were still a few hours that needed to pass before her family would wake up.

She sat beneath the towering pine and retrieved a box adjacent to her that had her name on it. Turning it over and over in her hands, Phoebe tried to speculate what the contents inside might be, but it was no use.

"Phoebe?" a sudden whisper pierced through the silence as a shadow crept to the doorway.

After jumping a foot in the air and shaking off the initial fright, Phoebe leaned forward, craning her neck to see whose voice was summoning her. The tone was too young to be Grams, but she was still worried to know who'd caught her. "Who's there? Prue?"

But as the shadow stepped into the light and became visible, Phoebe let out the breath she was holding. "Piper!" she cried quietly, a huge grin spreading across her face.

Sweeping her bangs away from her eyes and tucking them behind both ears, Piper folded her arms across her chest and assumed a scolding stance. "What are you doing down here? It's too early for presents."

Piper's attempt to seem intimidating when unnoticed when she was matched with Phoebe's puppy dog eyes. "I couldn't go back to sleep when I woke up so I thought I'd check to see if Santa came," she explained through hushed tones and then gestured to the dozens of gifts pushed in the small area under the bottom branches. "And he did!" The serious expression on Piper's face faded as she giggled and then dropped beside her sister.

Together the duo, sleepily cuddled in each other's arms, took turns pointing to objects and guessing what lied on the other side of the wrapping paper.

"I think that one is a giraffe!" Phoebe exclaimed excitedly. "A real one!"

"Why would Santa give us a real giraffe?" Piper countered, though she couldn't help but wonder.

"Because they're my favorites!"

"No they're not, dolphins are."

Phoebe glared at her as if her fun had been spoiled. "No! They're second to the giraffes."

Piper waved her off and settled back against the leg of the couch as Phoebe shifted in her lap. "Well anyways, it's not moving. Explain that one," the seven-year-old replied indignantly.

For a minute it looked like Phoebe, too young to produce her own sufficient answer, was going to give in to Piper. Her bottom lip quivered at the thought of being overpowered by Piper, she wasn't fond of being proven wrong. No matter whether or not there was a real giraffe under the oddly-shaped gift wrap, she couldn't let Piper win for now. Finally, an idea popped into her mind. "Maybe it's sleeping!"

She was so proud of herself that Piper didn't have the heart to try and disprove Phoebe's theory anymore. It was, after all, Christmas and if some of that Christmas magic encouraged Phoebe to believe she was getting a giraffe, then so be it. "Okay," Piper agreed, "I guess we'll see what it is then later."

They both fell silent as Phoebe rested her head on Piper's chest. She loved her sister very much, and this holiday was always a chance to spend lengthy amounts of time with all three of her sisters without fear of them telling her to get out of their personal space. For some reason, it always opened everyone up to each other.

Piper, being closest to her in age, understood Phoebe more than anyone else, Phoebe felt. She adored Prue and Paige to no end and held a special place in her heart for each of them, but comparatively Piper was the easiest to talk to. Prue's time was often cluttered with play-dates, cheerleading practices and piano recitals; she was a busy bee at nine years old and Phoebe didn't always seem to mesh with the time schedule. Prue would scare away the bullies but then head off to her piano lesson before getting the chance to figure out why they'd been bothering Phoebe in the first place.

And Paige, being only three, was too young to understand anything that was occurring around her. She was fine to talk to but couldn't provide much of any comfort or encouragement to a little girl who needed her mom or had just been laughed at by the class after spilling juice all over herself. Piper, on the other hand, always seemed to pop up when needed to lend an ear and then send advice back her way. They were, after all, only two years apart which meant Piper shared Phoebe's sadness in having less time to remember their mother while she did still have a few more selective memories to share than Phoebe. Piper could remember two years back more easily to have empathy for a kindergartener who was constantly being teased by the second and third graders. And although she didn't step up and scare them away, she was the unspoken consolation Phoebe always needed.

Phoebe had found her present for Piper while she, Paige and Grams had been circulating the mall. She never doubted for a second Piper would love it.

"Piper?" Phoebe whispered as she brushed her hair from her eyes and stared up at her big sister.

Piper, who was beginning to lose herself in her thoughts, stirred and looked to Phoebe. "What?"

Staring yearningly at the goodies only a few feet away under the tree, Phoebe made sure to sound as innocent and cute as she could when replying, "You think maybe we could open just each other's gifts and that wouldn't be cheating?"

Tapping her chin in mock seriousness, Piper considered the idea. They were always supposed to wait until the entire family was present to unwrap the gifts from Santa and Grams, but Piper guessed that maybe they could get around that just once.

"Well, Grams won't yell at us because it is Christmas…right?" Piper pondered, a grin slowly forming.

Phoebe nearly burst with excitement. "Yay!" she cried, already reaching for the small box, hidden behind the bigger more lavish ones. She watched Piper's face as her eyes flashed over the petite gift, wondering what her sister was thinking. "I want you to open yours second," she proclaimed.

Piper rolled her eyes at her sister's enthusiasm and decided it was worth the wait to see what Phoebe had chosen for her. Smiling, she passed a large-sized bag white floral colored paper billowing from the top to Phoebe and watched as her sister pulled the tissue paper from the bag. Immediately, her eyes went wide. Inside the bag was a fluffy bear dressed in a shimmering silverfish blue Cinderella costume, completely clone to the Disney princess who was Phoebe's absolute favorite. Piper had specially requested to build the bear and place the heart inside amongst the stuffing as Phoebe would have done. Judging by the look on her sister's face, she could tell Phoebe was please.

"She's so pretty Piper!" Phoebe exclaimed, holding the bear out in front of her. "My own Cinderella!"

"It's to make up for Frisky," Piper amended, thinking back to the stuffed cat their mother had given Phoebe when she was born. She'd cuddled every night as a baby and Piper had accidentally spilled milk on and ruined it.

As Phoebe held the bear in her arms and hugged him as close, rubbing her face over the soft brown fur, she giggled. "Frisky who?" She was, of course, playing dumb and the sisters shared a smile.

Phoebe then set the Cinderella bear aside and retrieved Piper's gift from the spot where she'd placed it on the floor. Then she gently handed it to Piper and watched with a five-year-old's anticipation as Piper carefully pulled the decorative wrapping off the box and pulled the cover off. Inside, each hanging from two little slits in the material was two necklaces. They were silver rectangle slabs with tiny rhinestones adorning the perimeter and the words best and friends, each inscribed in one of the necklaces.

Piper had seen her friends at school wearing jewelry similar to what she was holding; some with two halves of a heart or multiple ones reading _best_, _friends_, and _forever_. She had friends, but never anyone close enough to share the pleasure of something as simple as best friend necklaces. "One's for you and one's for me," Phoebe put in, unsure of what Piper's expression meant as she studied the accessories. "Do you like it?"

"I'm you're best friend?" Piper asked.

"Of course! You and Prue and Paige, but you're a really really good big sister, and I love you!"

"Phoebe!" Piper replied, enveloping her sister in a huge embrace and feeling genuinely touched. "I love it! And I love you!" Then she ruffled Phoebe's hair jokingly. "Want me to put yours on?"

Phoebe allowed Piper to clasp the chain around her neck and then did the same for her sister. When both pieces of jewelry were secured around their necks, both girls stared at them with admiration. Grams had smiled in a sly way when Phoebe had approached her with the gift and begged for her to buy them for Piper, as if she was overjoyed for the bonding between her granddaughters.

When they were through Phoebe resumed her spot, cuddled up with Piper beneath the tree. Minutes clicked but neither of them spoke. Then finally Phoebe whispered to Piper, "Merry Christmas."

Piper grinned as Phoebe nestled closer to her sister and said, "I'm glad I'm spending it with you, best friend."

**You guys are awesome, so I know you'll tell me what you think!!**


	3. Roadtrips and Ice Cream

**A/N: Can you believe it? Mind Over Matter and Through the Years were all updated within 24 hours?! I know, it's a sign of the apocalypse! I hope you enjoy this…I'm really trying with the comedy but it's not my main thing. So let me know!**

_Summary #3: A cross-country car trip turns sour when you try to stick four young sisters in a car together…for hours…_

"Phoebe, if you keep hanging your head out the window like that it's gonna hit something and then you're not gonna have one anymore."

Phoebe Halliwell fell back into her seat, crossing her arms with a pout as the seatbelt snapped back into place. As far as she was concerned, the road was long and interminable. They'd been driving long enough and Phoebe had watched as the minutes slowly tick away. The entire car would have been completely silent except for the hum of the engine and the clicking of the keyboard while Prue typed away at her cell phone in the front seat.

Oh, except of course for her baby sister chattering incessantly away in the background.

What Paige had to talk about Phoebe really didn't know; she'd tuned Paige out when they'd passed the border separating California and Nevada. And that had been 4 states ago. After all, Paige was only ten, the only interests she had were toys and stupid little kid things, Phoebe figured.

So instead, a couple minutes later Phoebe leaned forward and stuck her head out the car window again, resting it on her arms and staring at the cute preteen in the lane adjacent to theirs. Luckily for Phoebe, the cars had been riding side-by-side for a good chunk of time now. Even though they couldn't communicate through words, Phoebe had found a spare drawing pad among the heap of belongings on the floor and scribbled down the pertinent information. She'd found out his name was Aaden, he lived in Oregon, and he was thirteen, which was practically a whole other level for Phoebe. It just influenced her to think about him more.

"Phoebe," Grams warned again. "Get your head back in the car or I'll roll up the window."

"What's so exciting on the highway anyway?" Prue asked, looking up for the first time from her phone and peering out through the glass to see what Phoebe had so much interest in. Then she spotted him. "Or rather who?" she corrected herself, a wry smile creeping across her face. She waved to Aaden, "hi cutie!"

"Prue!" Phoebe snapped back, "you have a boyfriend! Don't take mine!"

"He's not _yours_," Prue reminded her and then eyed Aaden again carefully, who'd taken notice of her and was glancing at Phoebe curiously. "Besides, Andy's all the way back in California. It won't do any harm just to look!"

"Back off Prue!" Phoebe growled, gazing back out into the highway as Aaden held up a sign with the word 'sister?' scribbled on it in blue sharpie. Phoebe took a minute to flip the pad to a crisp white page and wrote back. 'Yes, she's a pain.'

After craning her next so she could read it, Prue immediately switched into fierce mode. "Oh, I'll show you what a _pain_ is!" She squirmed in her seat, sticking both arms around it and swinging them at Phoebe, who recoiled and held the pad over her face for protection.

"Prudence!" Grams immediately interjected, using one arm to pull Prue back from the seat as Phoebe continued shrieking. "Stop that nonsense right now and leave your sister be!"

Prue considered this for a moment and let reason win out. "Fine," she agreed. "He's too young for me anyway."

Seeing that Phoebe was now disgruntled with Prue and her eldest sister was once again engrossed in the task of typing away furiously on her phone, Paige finally gave up at making her voice heard. Grams had tried to seem intrigued and into the conversation but after all the years of her sisters ignoring her whenever it suited them she knew better. So finally she turned to Piper, who was lying with her head back against the seat, Ipod at hand, with her eyes closed. For all anyone knew, she could have very well been asleep. But Paige was the exception to that; Piper had been the one to teach her to fake being asleep to trick Grams when she'd come up to check on them and the girls had been reading or IMing instead of sleeping.

Tapping Piper on the shoulder, Paige whispered, "Piper? Are you awake?" Unconsciously, she slapped Paige's hand away. Piper was a deep sleeper; she could easily sleep through a hurricane without so much as tossing and turning. Paige poked her harder this time, figuring Piper was still faking. "Piper!!" she whined.

Phoebe, taking notice of what Paige was doing, decided to spice it up. "Want to play a game, Paigey?"

Of course she did, together Paige and Phoebe schemed up the cruelest games which were funny to them, not so much to anyone else. Paige's interest was immediately peaked. "Will it wake Piper up?"

Nodding with a devilish grin, Phoebe quickly whispered her plan to Paige, who right away accepted the opportunity. Both girls had suffered the fright of having the same thing done to them by Prue and Piper on many occasions when they'd fallen sound asleep. It was time karma paid Piper a visit. Cautiously, Phoebe and Paige eased both earphones from Piper's ears and then positioned themselves so each was directly next to one.

Phoebe then counted off. "Okay, ready? Three, two…one!"

"WAKE UP, PIPER!!!"

In an instant, Piper jolted upright and yelped in surprise. She looked left and right at the perpetrators, taking time to glare at each one of them equally so they could feel the intensity of her anger. Phoebe and Paige were sharing high fives, not even noticing they were intruding on Piper's space. "That was so _not_ funny!"

Paige giggled harder, collapsing against the seat. "You do it to us all the time."

"Yeah Pipe," Phoebe added, equally joyously. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it!"

Piper's ears rang as she rubbed her head and moaned. "Why am I always in the middle of those two?"

Closing her phone, Prue turned around to laugh at Piper, "That, my sister is why I always call shotgun."

"No you don't!" Piper argued back, "You assume that because you're oldest that even when _I _call shotgun you have the right to throw me out of the seat." She thought back to hours ago when that exact same instance had happened, shaking her head at the recollection. "And then I get stuck between tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumber, mediating their fights and being the victim of their jokes."

Paige pouted, "I am not dumb!"

Just for the sake of being mean, Piper retorted, "Just like the sky isn't blue."

"Actually, Piper, the sky _isn't _blue. That's just the way you see it in light, it's actually clear," Prue shot back, watching Paige smile as Prue came to her defense. "Don't worry, Paigey, I got your back."

At her big sister's protection, Paige smiled and settled back into her seat and dozed off. When she awoke, it was to the sounds of fighting from her three big sisters. By the look on Phoebe's face, Paige could assume they were no longer driving next to cute-boy-from-Oregon because otherwise she would have pulled away from the fight to talk to him. Prue's phone was in her lap so Paige guessed Andy also was spending his free time doing other things, leaving her without anyone to text. And finally, Piper's Ipod headphones were wrapped around the device itself an settled into a cup holder, probably because it was out of batteries.

That just meant her sisters were bored, and when they became bored they fought, usually with her.

"Where are we?" Paige asked, stifling a yawn.

"In a car, can't you tell?" Piper breathed angrily, looking for someone else to fight with. That wasn't her usual demeanor, but Paige could grasp that ten hours in the car wasn't doing anyone well.

"Leave Paigey alone," Prue defended, sticking up for her little sister once more, "just because you're bitter that we're stuck here for a _longer _amount of time doesn't mean you get to pick on her for it." Paige smiled thankfully at Prue and didn't offer up the retort that Prue often did the same thing because she wanted her big sister on her side and that would most certainly not put her there.

Piper fell back to her seat dramatically. "Why did _I _have to get stuck with _three _loud sisters?" she moaned.

"I don't see you acting any differently," Prue replied, giving Paige a thumbs up.

Grams stared into the rearview mirror at the unhappy faces in the backseat. "Stop fighting and complaining or I'll throw the lot of you out of the car and you can _walk _the rest of the way to Chicago."

"Fine!" Phoebe kicked the back of Prue's seat in frustration. "I _want_ to get out of here," she whined. "Grams! Please stop the stupid car!" Even though Phoebe had just done the one thing Prue hated most in cars, when she turned around to protest, she noticed Phoebe was near tears and remembered how miserable her sister got when she was cranky,

"Come on Grams," Prue begged gently, turning towards her grandmother. "I think we just need to get out of the car for a little bit to calm down so we can get to Salt Lake City without killing each other."

Prue was always the one looking for the easiest resolution and could do it almost effortlessly if she pleased. That was when he sisters valued her most because if she was in their favor of things and went about it in the motherly caring way she was capable of then the world was practically hers.

Grams had planned on making it to Salt Lake City for the night, rent a hotel, and sightsee the next day before moving on and making the next drive where they would stay another night in another city and finally reach Chicago. It was a lot to ask of the girls to sit like perfect angels for three days and she had never really expected that they would. Eventually, seeing the desperation in Prue's eyes, she switched lanes and headed for the next exit. "I guess I could make an exception for my favorite granddaughters," she agreed, softening.

The first place the girls saw when pulling onto a regular road cluttered with stores and restaurants was a Ben and Jerry's ice cream store. In unison, they all shouted, "I want that!"

So Grams parked and the girls piled out of the car and were ushered into the store to choose something to eat. Prue selected her all-time favorite cookie dough, Piper immediately dug into mint chocolate chunk instantaneously, Phoebe opted for a peanut butter cup flavor and Paige chose the simple yet tasty Vanilla Caramel fudge. Taking their treats and heading outside, Grams was happy to see that their horrid moods disappeared as the ice cream did. The girls even began laughing with one another again.

When they'd been chattering quietly and were all almost finished with their cups of ice cream, Grams decided she could no longer avoid the inevitable. "Okay girls, let's get a move on!"

As if she'd been waiting, Piper perked up. "I call shotgun!" she cried, racing for the front seat of the car before Prue could even look up from her ice cream to notice that her little sister was gone. Immediately she sprang to her feet, abandoning the cookie dough frozen treat which Phoebe and Paige swarmed around to finish.

As she trailed Piper, she shouted, "I'm the oldest! I'm supposed to get it! Grams!!"

"Who do you think is going to win that fight?" Phoebe asked, swirling her spoon around in the ice cream until there was a giant clump which she then stuck in her mouth.

"I don't know…" Paige replied, considering the odds. "I guess whichever one lives through their fight?" Both girls laughed as they scraped the remains out of the foam cup and tossed in the trash. "Will you sit in the middle and protect me from whoever loses? Because you're a nice big sister?" she begged a ten-year-old's innocent.

Piper would be easy to handle and ignore, Prue not so much but if she nagged Grams enough Phoebe would be able to shut either of them up. So, feeling generous, she nodded and they watched as Piper and Prue tried to rip one another away from the seat that allowed freedom from their siblings and the ability to control the radio. It was a luxury neither Phoebe or Paige had ever enjoyed and would not until their older sisters had left for college, but at that moment they had each other for the remaining part of the ride so neither worried.

"I really hope it's not Prue," Phoebe said finally as they headed off to the car arm in arm. "Because if she loses not only are we gonna have to face her wrath for _that_….but we're going to owe her another ice cream."

**I wasn't sure how I liked this one, so let me know what you think! The next story will consist of Piper, Paige and one very stormy evening…and it will be a very sweet one! **


End file.
